As we reported last month, President Joe Biden has nominated Phillip A. Washington as his new FAA administrator to replace Steve Dickson, who resigned in the spring. The Washington Post is reporting Washington’s nomination is rooted in his deep political ties to Biden as the administration grapples with an air transportation system fraught with difficulties, from staff shortages and constant flight schedule disruptions to conflicts with other major arms of the government. Washington’s background is in urban transit and he was a member of Biden’s transition team. His only aviation job was as the current CEO of Denver International Airport, where he seems to have earned a positive reputation.
Question: in this “mad tear for diversity hires”, will members of the Native American (i.e., Cherokee, Iroquois, Sioux, etc.) community ever be included in these picks?
“Reaction from aviation groups has been tepid.” So, the “administration” wants to put someone with absolutely no industry background into the agency responsible for aviation matters? We all know the real reason for this and it’s not administrative skill.
I guess after reading the article we’re all supposed to think this appointment is only due to race. I’ve read about this in other publications and never picked up on race being an issue. Time will tell how Mr. Washington performs in his new job just the same way it always does with other appointments.
Rather than search for a person who has extensive experience in all that is aviation, the President had the DOT Sec. picked one that is “Rooted in deep political ties to the President, and was part of the President’s transition team”. This person, who will now become the fall guy for the DOT Sec., has now been “rewarded” for his devotion to the Pres. and has been given a job that sucks.
With no aviation experience, he–like most political appointees–will be dependent on his underlings for advice–and as usual in government, that advice usually is “don’t make waves”, and “don’t rock the boat.”
TRULY A CASE OF “THE INMATES RUNNING THE ASYLUM!” What ever happened to hiring “The Best and the Brightest”?
And people wonder why there is so little confidence in government to “do the right thing”!
The political innuendo with its negative expressions here is becoming something of a norm. Can you imagine how these mental midgets making these comments would have responded to the choice of Winston Churchill as England’s Prime Minister with all his baggage or the choice of Volodymyr Zelenskyy or Ronald Reagan, both entertainers, to their respective positions?
We, talking here about pilots, are all (insert your own adjective here) resentful of the FAA. And yes, they did screw-up big-time with the Boeing Max and elsewhere. But we still have the safest, most efficient air travel “opportunities” in the world! If you doubt this, cross the pond and start paying everytime you key your mic. It’s natural to resent authority and the FAA has been heavy-handed in exercising their authority lately, but perhaps what is needed is a little good old-fashioned leadership there. And just maybe that leadership is more precious than log books filled with flight hours and ratings.
I agree with Bill R. and John W. Can we give the man a chance? And while we are at it, can we all return to thinking in terms of brotherhood of pilots instead of hateful, politically laced innuendo?
The President hired a person he has worked with before to fill an important job in the Federal bureaucracy. Just like every President before him. You’d rather he picked someone randomly?
You say he should have picked someone who knows everything about aviation (e.g. someone who has spent his life learning to fly, acquiring ratings, working up the food chain to the airlines, and not spent one minute in a management position) for one of the more challenging management jobs in the country? If you want to object to his background, you should be concerned that his experience running one of the busiest airports in the world makes him less GA-aware than we might want.
And for the trolls with spittle-sticky keyboards, what would your response have been if there had been no picture at the top of the article?
I’ll be happy if he can just get the FAA to actually do its job. The whole PAFI/EAGLE mess is a sickening example of an agency beholden to moneyed interests instead of looking for solutions to real problems. The fact that GAMI has a drop-in solution to the fuel problem but they have been thwarted at every turn for ELEVEN years by an agency where no one is willing to put their signature on a piece of paper is a sad testament to bureaucratic paralysis. I’m still waiting for an approval of a revision to some existing software to upgrade my autopilot that has been stuck down some rabbit hole at the Administration for TWO years. It’s a pretty sad day when the Europens (EASA) are more progressive than the country that invented aviation.
I will have to hold judgement in reserve. It would be nice to have someone with real aviation background. This gentleman seems to have a good resume but we will see if he follows the current track of checking off the appropriate progressive agenda boxes or is really interested in addressing the real problems the FAA has.